Royal Frontier is a new rogue-like RPG from developer Woblyware and published by kings of the easy platinum – Ratalaika Games. The premise is that a party of three are on a 45-day trek to New Haven. This journey consists of three maps, and each day brings a new encounter, which can be combat, discovering treasure, stopovers for the night to replenish health or magic, a mini-boss or some really cool text-based adventure madness where you’ll be given a situation and a few multiple-choice options as to how to proceed. There’s never an obvious right or wrong answer, but sometimes you’ll get a reward, whereas in others you’ll lose some health.
Each run the map layout is different, so it’s important to study it and choose your path carefully depending on what your goals are. If it’s coins you’re after then you may want to head for a mini-boss, while on the other hand if surviving deeper into the game is your goal on that particular run then crafting a route with fewer combat encounters would be advisable. Don’t be put off when your first few runs end quickly, as you’ll begin unlocking more powerful items and buffs to take with you on your journey. Before long you’ll unlock the 10 scrolls, which over health, defence and attack advantages in the heat of battle.
I don’t have a lot of experience with turn-based games like this – my only frame of reference being the excellent South Park games last generation. Royal Frontier’s combat actually plays a lot like the first entry Stick of Truth, with attacks dealing the most amount of damage if you time the attack perfectly. You also have abilities, which sometimes require stopping a bar in the right spot or hammering X to fill a bar to deal the maximum damage.
A fair bit of strategy is needed if you want to reach 45-days. You begin your journey with three available characters. A knight, a healer and a mage, with a further three unlockable by reaching certain milestones. Obviously, upgrades over time as well as the scrolls and other items will help, but knowing when to use the various tools at your disposal will take time to master. In each battle, you always get to go first, so I found myself usually identifying the enemy with the least HP and trying to take them out before the first turnover so that I had fewer enemies coming at me.
In typical Ratalaika Games fashion, the game doesn’t need to be completed in its entirety to get the platinum or 1000G. However, I would expect it to take you around an hour as trophies such as “Loot 1000 gold in one run” and “Defeat 20 enemies in one run” become easier as you naturally acquire upgrades and better gear by playing. While it may not seem it at first, this game still hovers around the 2/10 platinum difficulty range.
Overall I was actually pleasantly surprised with Royal Frontier. As I stated at the beginning this isn’t a genre of game that I would normally play, but like the tip-top gamer that I am, I was lured in with the promise of a shiny platinum trophy. On PlayStation, you get both the PS4 & PS5 version for the one purchase and after popping the platinum on PS5 I was eager to jump straight back in on PS4. This may not be as in-depth as turn-based veterans would want, but at this super cheap price point it is definitely worth a look.
-Craig ✌️
